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Germany prepares for war... again!

The Germans are preparing for war. But at the moment it's being taken for granted that not everyone is going to be in favour of it. In fact it ought to go without saying that Germany is currently the most antiwar country in the whole of the western world. And it has to be said that that's despite some pretty stiff competition.

The problem of course is that war is inevitable. For all the magical thinking of western elites (including both the Biden and Trump Administrations in America), Putin's conquest of Ukraine is currently continuing largely unimpeded by anything other than his own troops' incompetence.

And so of course there's going to be war at some point whether the demos like it or not. And thus it's interesting to observe, in the face of such an obvious "democratic deficit", the means that a supposedly democratic government will be forced to deploy against its own voters.

As Lisa Haseldine describes exercise Red Storm Bravo (itself a rehearsal for Operation Deutschland) in The Spectator

The first day’s main event was moving a military convoy through the centre of the city after dark. As the sun set over Hamburg’s port, I watched the heavily armed soldiers march towards a fleet of about 70 military vehicles, lined up three abreast. Some were small armoured vehicles, others enormous Rheinmetall-branded trucks, several with machine-gun turrets that would later be manned as the convoy sped through the city. Many soldiers wore balaclavas to prevent them being identified, according to our Bundeswehr escort. 

... 

At two points along the route, the convoy was stopped by pretend protests: at the first, army reservists in civvies waved banners and chanted at the convoy to ‘turn back’; at the second, ‘protestors’ staged a sit-in, with signs saying ‘glue’ around the necks of some to denote those who would have stuck themselves to the ground. The point was for the riot police to practise removing them. Groups of three took turns: a grab at the protester's head from behind and a knee to the back, one arm twisted around, then the other, allowing the police to peel them off the ground and carry them away.

So far, so German!

The "interesting" question of course is to what extent countries with longer and, er, perhaps "deeper" traditions of "liberal" democracy will follow suit. Can one really imagine English police, let alone the Army, cracking down on "democratic" protesters in London or Marchwood?

We'll wait and see.

Jordan james

How important is Britain really?

How important is Britain really? In the Real World, that is? On what used to be called "the world stage"  - although to be fair even that doesn't sound like quite such an important place as it did?

That surely is the question one has to ask when one sees our creepy little twerp of a Prime Minister desperately trying to insert himself into the Donald's shot as the great man is announcing Peace In Our Time in the Middle East. And if something's so cringe that even Jeremy Kyle thinks it's cringe, you know - or at least you ought to know - that you've crossed a line.

On the one hand, of course, you've got UK education secretary Bridget Phillipson insisting without a jot of evidence that our great country indeed 'played a key role behind the scenes' in shaping Trump's peace deal between Israel and Hamas over Gaza. On the other hand, you've got, er, the US ambassador to Israel saying quite clearly 'I assure you she's delusional."

And then of course you have the uncomfortable reality: peace could have been achieved a good deal earlier, if only Britain and America had worked together, with the latter keeping a close eye on Netanyahu whilst the former put in the diplomatic legwork to get the Arab states to condemn and isolate Hamas.

Of course, the isolation and surrender of Hamas eventually happened. The Israelis bombed Iran. Then Britain and America helped them bomb Iran. Then the Israelis bombed Qatar. Then the Qataris decided that supporting Hamas wasn't quite such a good idea. Then Hamas surrendered.*

But in the meantime Britain, along with Canada and of course France, had done the exact opposite of what was wanted by deciding to "recognise" a "Palestinian state". And apart from because it pandered to their increasingly substantial domestic national socialist Moslem minorities, it wasn't at all clear why.

It is of course possible that it depends whom you ask. Anyone in the Real World, such as poor dear Marco Rubio, will tell you that the Moslem Occupied Governments' decision to reward Hamas by giving their cause diplomatic support did no good whatsoever. But from the point of view of reliably loopy Blairites such as Jonathan Powell it was all part of a cunning plan that couldn't fail.

The plan is, of course, a "peace plan". It's modelled on Powell's other great success, which was of course his plan for "peace" in Ireland. (How's that working out? Oh, yes!) And unfortunately the likes of Trump's Middle East envoy Steve Witkoff are clearly sold on the idea of having a sovereign state governed by Hamas. (How would that work out? Oh, yes!)

The fact that Powell and his cronies (and Blair himself is hovering stage left, if reports are to be believed) wouldn't recognise an enemy of western civilisation - whether it be Arab nationalism or Chinese communism - if it were goosestepping up Whitehall is not unimportant. And yet because he has a serious face and a posh accent the Yanks have yet again fallen for the British shtick. "Don't worry, my dear fellow. We know how to handle these people."

The "British", bear in mind, are the supposed colonial experts who almost lost Iraq, just as by now we've all but lost the Chagos Islands, just as we lost most of the rest of the Empire in the 1960s, just as back in the day we lost a handful of colonies on the east coast of North America.

So why exactly Trump & Co are currently seeking and accepting our advice over "peace" in the Middle East raises some very nasty possibilities indeed.

*And pace Douglas Murray, that is essentially what they've done.

Alasdair McLellan, Michael Morgan for Man About Town

IN FULL: Every Scandal Starmer Claimed to Know Nothing About

Starmer is once again claiming to have known nothing in the China spy case’s collapse, especially not Matt Collins’ evidence. This is getting familiar…

Here is every scandal Starmer has pleaded ignorance over:

• China Espionage Case: Not involved, never saw anything, it was only Matt Collins.
• Mandelson & Epstein: “Had I known then what I know now, I’d have never appointed him.”
• Louise Haigh’s Criminal Record: Claimed there was “further information” that was revealed to him that led to her sacking.
• Rayner’s First Housing Scandal: Didn’t need to see the ‘legal advice’ claiming appropriate capital gains tax was paid.
• Grooming Gangs Prosecutions: “Decisions were made by subordinates or that he was not briefed on relevant cases.”
• Andrew Malkinson’s Wrongful Conviction: “Never crossed his desk.”
• Post Office Scandal: “I didn’t see these particular cases. I don’t even know yet what they were about, whether they come within the cohort that is of concern.”
• Al-Fayed Investigation: “These decisions did not cross my desk.”
• Israeli Football Fan Ban: The UK Football Policing Unit told the Home Office about the restrictions on visiting fans from Maccabi Tel Aviv the week before it was announced. Number 10 said no one told Starmer.

More to come…

[H/T: Guido Fawkes]